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Sterling silver bulk chain, medium flat
oval curb, heavy weight, 3.7x7.5mm |
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Yellow wood beads, roundelle, 4mm |
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Tourmaline beads, Medium grade, faceted
roundelle, approximately 5mm |
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Natural
Apatite beads, faceted nugget, 5x7mm. |
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Sterling silver toggle clasp,
heart-shape, 22.5x23.2 mm |
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Dyed Rose Quartz beads, faceted
roundelle, 4mm |
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Another trend in wearing
chains
was the sautoir. Now the term is used for almost any
long
necklace but in 19th-century France, it
described a particular kind of woman's
necklace: a long neck
chain that hung from the shoulders to below the
waist, often with a
pendant or some sort of fringe at the bottom.
Sometimes these were even worn draped over one
shoulder. The long necklaces adopted by the Flappers
in the early 20th century were also referred to as
sautoirs.
It’s said that fashion goes in cycles: Nothing ever
really disappears; it just fades for a while and
then resurfaces in a slightly different form. It
seemed to me that a perfect example of this was the
way that the long, heavy
gold chains of the Renaissance resurfaced—or
came back with a vengeance-- in the 1980s with the
advent of hip-hop. Slick Rick, Rakim, Big Daddy
Kane, Jam Master Jay, and RUN-DMC were just a few of
the artists who wore the humongous
gold "ropes". Outrageous and extravagant, these
chains
were status symbols (as
jewelry has always been), but more importantly,
symbols of being accepted, of “being part of the
crew. The link below shows a photo of the three
members of RUN-DMC, all wearing ropes.
 Then
again, it's entirely possible that ropes have
nothing at all to do with European tradition. Kanye
West calls them "an African thing". While I couldn't
find much evidence of heavy
gold chains being worn in Africa, the Akan
people worked in
gold, as did the people on the Côte d'Ivoire.
More pertinent may be the long tradition of big,
bold, dazzling pieces that are found in so many
different types of African
jewelry. |
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